Keep up with news from Wisconsin’s innovation community with these recent headlines:
—Seiva Technologies, a Milwaukee-based company that developed sensor-equipped athletic apparel, is no longer operating, co-founder Andrew Hampel said in an e-mail. Seiva had developed high-tech garments for speedskaters, hockey players, and other athletes. The products were designed to provide real-time information, such as knee-bend angle and which muscle groups are exercised.
“There are talks of another wearable company potentially interested” in Seiva’s intellectual property, Hampel wrote. “However, those talks are in very early stages. So for all intents and purposes, Seiva is done.”
—Madison-based food-ordering software developer EatStreet has launched a national television advertising campaign, the Milwaukee Business Journal reported. EatStreet has also promoted its website in newspapers, radio spots, and billboards. The startup’s TV ads will reportedly air during college football games broadcast on the Big Ten Network. See also coverage in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Wisconsin State Journal.
—Isomark, a Madison-based company developing a device that measures carbon isotopes in the exhaled breath of patients, was profiled by the online news outlet Mashable. Members of the University of Wisconsin’s football team breathe into Isomark-made bags before and after practices and workouts, and the company’s technology lets them know how much “metabolic fuel”—fat, protein, and carbohydrates—they’re burning while exercising. Isomark is also developing technology aimed at helping diagnose bacterial infections in patients’ breath before symptoms begin setting in, according to the report.
—We profiled Gregor Diagnostics, a Madison-based startup that’s seeking to commercialize an at-home screening test for prostate cancer. The company recently began participating in the Health Wildcatters startup accelerator in Dallas, which runs through early November. Gregor Diagnostics plans to conduct a study in 2018 involving a panel of biomarkers that could distinguish between healthy and cancerous cells in seminal fluid samples, founder and CEO Tobias Zutz said.
—NPR ran a fun story on the origin story of warfarin sodium, a drug that prevents blood clots and “can be a lifesaver” for heart and stroke patients. The sequence of events that led to the development of the blood-thinning drug, which is sold as Coumadin and other brand names, started in the mid 1930s when a farmer showed up at a UW-Madison research laboratory with a can of blood that “came from a cow that had eaten sweet clover hay that had some mold growing in it.” Karl Paul Link, then a chemist at the university, was intrigued by the account of the farmer, whose cows fell ill and died from internal building after eating the hay because their blood didn’t coagulate. The generic name “warfarin” is a combination of the university’s patent and licensing office (Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation) and the chemical coumarin, which is found in sweet clover hay.
—Cellara, a Madison-based startup developing documentation software for researchers who work in stem cell culture laboratories, has a new CEO. Alex Vodenlich, who previously served as Cellara’s vice president of business development, is now the company’s chief executive. The previous CEO, Scott Fulton, is staying on as chief technology officer, Vodenlich said in an e-mail.
—Lastly, see how innovators are creating Web maps and using Slack to help emergency responders help flood victims, along with other coverage of Hurricane Harvey from Xconomy’s Texas bureau:
Harvey Roundup: JLabs, Silicon Labs, Co-Working Refuges, & More
Apps, Textbots, & Web Maps: Tech Ecosystem Aids Harvey Relief Effort
Social Media, Interactive Maps Tapped to Aid Harvey Rescue Efforts
